Tina tabled for ARRoc and RAVS/RLMI at two great events last weekend 9/21-22/2025:
Saturday was Nazfest at Nazareth University, 6 hours outdoors with good attendance, nice weather, and conversations with 30+ families who went home with a RAVS newsletter full of vegan info and recipes. I was letting people know about RLMI’s Jumpstart and its online option, Allied Scholars for Animal Protection who were to speak at the RAVS meeting Sunday evening, the Plant Based Treaty, Rochester VegFest savings cards (now $5!), and of course what animals’ lives are like under agribusiness (our “True Story” series of flyers). I also have a flyer with every single vegan entity I can think of in Rochester, so even if I didn’t mention it above, it was shared.
My co-volunteer (dog with separation anxiety) sleeping in the sun behind the table was a huge hit.
Sunday was Syracuse VegFest, another 6 hours, this time inside a big building at the NYS Fairgrounds. What a great event! Well attended and wonderful vendors. I brought my own tiny table, onto which I crammed all we have to offer, our programs that are relevant outside our area, and also the flyers about animals and veganism which are unfortunately relevant everywhere. I was surprised there were so many people from outside Syracuse and even from Rochester, so they were all happy I was there.
This time my co-volunteer was in the little maroon tent you can see under the table – I plugged in his pet heating pad and he slept the whole time.
I realized I had no name for our table mascot cat, popular with children, and thought maybe Roccy or Rocxy.
Some things I learned about while at SVF are:
- there’s a Vegtoberfest October 11
- they’re doing the Vegan Living Program we did here, only a la carte events at libraries. Next year they’re doing the intensive program again.
- Carlos Garcia of Monkeyswithdrums.com stopped by and shared about his Anthem for Equality “It’s OK to Love Me” and a film in development, Miss Liberty.
- I didn’t know about Nutrition in Medicine ROCS, “Whole Food, Plant-Based Meals Made Easy,” but will be adding it to our “vegan entities” flyer.
Thank you to Carol B for dropping off the RAVS box to me, and I’ll mention that I returned it to her at the RAVS meeting and was very impressed with Allied Scholars‘ presentation. I have been thinking for years that organized, effective outreach on college campuses is probably the single most important vegan advocacy we can do, and despite its inherent challenges, they’re doing it.